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Monday, 15 December 2014

7 Christmas Quick Takes

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So usually I do quick takes on a Friday, because you know, that's when the link-up is hosted. But tonight I'm ready to write, so Christmas quick takes it is.

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Did you know that many Catholics and other Christians have a big fight going on about Santa Claus? One side says acting like Santa Claus is a real person who leaves gifts for your kids is the same as lying to your kids, plus takes the focus away from Jesus, and the other side says people against Santa are killing the wonder and fun of childhood.

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I see both sides. I remember the disappointment and let down on the day I found out Santa was my mum. Actually, it didn't happen at Christmas time, and it was all the Tooth Fairy's fault. I put my tooth under my pillow, waiting for my shiny one rupee coin to appear there (1 rupee got 30 peppermints, so that was wealth) and day after day passed and no coin appeared. i just couldn't understand what was wrong. Then my poor forgetful mum took me out on the balcony and said, "Well, Sue... actually the Tooth Fairy is me. And so is Santa Claus." NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Perhaps if we had never started playing that game, I would have avoided the big let down.

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But then, but then, I also remember the years of joy and wonder of the night before Christmas, the anticipation, the thrill of trying to wake up early enough to catch Santa at work, the excitement at seeing the pile of gifts under the tree, and the ones with my name on them. (I must have been a very gullible kid, because I never noticed how similar Santa's handwriting was to my mum's.) It was magic! It definitely added something to my childhood. We also had prayer time, we went to Mass, my siblings and I were not greedy little consumers who only cared about material things. Our family growing up didn't have a lot of money, so the one or two gifts and the stocking full of sweets and dried orange and nuts were so special.

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So I was thinking a lot about the issue. I'm all about the truth and keeping it real and all that jazz, so how did the two work together?

Everyone keeps talking about how telling your children about Santa is a lie because Santa isn’t real. But who cares if Santa is real or not? That’s not the point. The point is, Santa is true.

We’ve so totally lost the ability to distinguish between the real and the true that we act like they are the same thing, when they’re not — at least, not always...

But, said Lewis, myths are lies, even though lies breathed through silver.

No, said Tolkien, “they are not.

…just as speech is invention about objects and ideas, so myth is invention about truth.We have come from God (continued Tolkien), and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed only by myth-making, only by becoming a ‘sub-creator’ and inventing stories, can Man aspire to the state of perfection that he knew before the Fall. Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbour, while materialistic ‘progress’ leads only to a yawning abyss and the Iron Crown of the power of evil.

You mean, asked Lewis, that the story of Christ is simply a true myth, a myth that works on us in the same way as the others, but a myth that really happened? In that case, he said, I begin to understand.(Read the rest here)

It's a cool perspective that basically says that Santa is a myth that prepares kids to understand deeper truths about God. Undeserved gifts- that's God. Joy and wonder and glimpses of a bigger, more beautiful world- that's a glimpse into God too. And THAT'S real!

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It's a little bit like reading the Chronicles of Narnia, or the Lord of the Rings, or even George MacDonald's books. They're stories, but they feel real, because they reveal truth, and with it wonder and joy and even awe.

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In conclusion, let me leave you with some Christmas memes, because what better way:

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Namaste!

I'm Sue, a thirty-one year old urban Indian Catholic who loves words, talks too much, hates adventures and and yet is on the Grand Quest of Learning to Love.

Introversion and introspection, opinions about love, romance and marriage, big families, socially awkward situations, being Catholic in a pluralistic society, feeling like a foreigner in my own country and theology broken down... welcome to this INTJ's world.